Yugioh Watership Down
by KaibaGirl007
Summary: Watership Down with Yugioh characters. CURRENTLY ABANDONED DUE TO LOSS OF PERSONAL INTEREST AND MOTIVATION
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It was almost sunset as Yugi and Yami sat on the rooftop of the Domino high school building. Yugi looked out across the wreckage of their once beautiful city whilst his friend had dozed off beside him. It had been some months since the destruction had happened but Yugi remembered it like it was only yesterday.

_It was just like any other normal day. He had woken up, gone to school, met the gang, watched another of the countless arguments between Kaiba and Joey, and then just before lunch something strange happened. The millennium puzzle began to glow more brightly then it had ever done before, and without warning, thousands of duel monsters were released from within, along with Yami who found himself in a body of his own._

_The monsters roamed through the streets with many of them destroying everything that they came in to contact with, buildings, vehicles, and living life. More monsters continued to appear as they escaped from the cards where their images had once been. Even as the students were gathering to be lead to safety many of them had witnessed the monsters leave, including Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragons as they burst out of his metal briefcase and immediately took flight up into the clouds._

_After a couple of hours of being locked unwillingly in the school's basement the students managed to overpower and even convince some of the teachers to let them search for loved ones, but as they returned outside they found most of the city destroyed and without power. _

_When Yugi had reached his grandfather's Game shop he had found it in ruins with both his mother and grandfather dead, leaving him devastated with shock. Joey had been met with the same scene when he returned home to his father, but unlike Yugi his father's death didn't affect him at all, he was just glad that his sister had previously returned back home to their mother. Tea and Tristan hadn't found any signs of their families at all and still hadn't found them, but their hope of finding them alive and well slowly disappears after each day that passes. Kaiba had rushed to Mokuba's school fearing the worst, but as he caught sight of his brother he embraced him so tightly that Mokuba had to beg him to let go to stop the painful squeezing. Bakura remained unaffected by the event since he had no-one close to lose, but along with Yami, he was there to give support to his friends to try and help them deal with their loses._

_At the time Pegasus had been in the city arranging a new deal with Duke over the Dungeon Dice Monsters game. The two had witnessed much of the destruction of the city and had been first on the scene to help some of the casualties when their discussion had been cut short by the chaos. Many of those they had helped would have surely died if it wasn't for their quick response to the situation, because if their conditions had become worse then they would not have been able to rely on the medical care support as there was absolutely no power supplies left in the city._

_Taken by surprise at the outbreak, the surviving residents of the city all took shelter in the high school building as the deep basements there would shield them from any further attacks made by the monsters. Since Pegasus had created the game and knew more about the monsters than anyone else, he had been chosen by the people to guide and lead them through the situation. He had also called upon Kaiba and Duke to help him as they too had a wide range of knowledge about duel monsters, and when they weren't with him trying to figure out an answer to the problem they lead a selected group of people chosen to keep order amongst the others who sheltered at the school. Both Yugi and Yami had also been asked to offer their knowledge too, but Yugi was still in a state of shock and not thinking straight enough to be of any help, and Yami had vowed to spend all of his time looking over his friend to make sure that he was okay._

The sky was now orange as the sun slowly dropped from the sky. Yami woke from his light sleep to see Yugi with a look of terror on his face and shaking uncontrollably. "Yugi?" he asked as he approached him. "Yugi what's wrong?"

Yugi continued to shake. "The city. It's flooded with blood." He began to step away from Yami and closer towards the door leading back down into the building.

Yami looked out across the city and saw that the streets had become slightly red from the light of the sunset, and guessed that it was this which had startled his friend. "It's okay Yugi. It's just a trick of the light, there is no blood." he assured him as he placed both hands on Yugi's shoulders to stop him from shaking.

"No." Yugi shook his head and tears began to form in his eyes. "We have to leave this place. We're not safe here." He broke free from Yami's hold and began to descend down the stairs with Yami following as fast as he could behind him.

When Yugi reached the bottom he saw groups of people gathered together as they talked to one another. He began to shout as he tried to catch all of their attentions. "We all have to leave now! We're not safe here! There is a terrible danger coming!"

The people began to mutter. Some were saying about how Yugi was insane, others were wondering just what the danger could be. A well built man grabbed Yugi by his jacket collar and dragged him to one side. "What do you think you are doing?" he snarled.

"Let him be." Yami told the man as he caught up with his friend at last.

"Pegasus told me to keep the people calm and peaceful." The man glared at Yami as he spoke. "This runt is trying to panic them in to believing that they are in danger." He raised Yugi off the ground with the grip he had on his jacket and shook him.

"Looks to me like you're just bullying someone weaker than yourself." Yami grabbed the man's arms to stop him from shaking his friend, but still he had hold of Yugi, and Yami was nowhere near strong enough to force the man to release his grip. "I'll see to him. He's not been himself since he lost his family, and he doesn't deserve to be treated like this."

Giving in to Yami's harsh stare, the man let go of Yugi. "See to it that he doesn't cause trouble again."

After guiding Yugi to one side away from everyone else Yami spoke to his friend again. "I know that coping with losing your mother and grandpa hasn't been easy for you, but you have to stop acting like this." Yugi stared back at him with sadness in his eyes, which made Yami feel slightly uneasy with what he was about to say. "You're being silly about this whole thing."

"You don't believe me?" Yugi asked in disbelief and close to breaking out into tears.

Slowly Yami shook his head. "There's only so much that I can do to help you back to the way you were. You have to want to help yourself too, and playing along with this charade of yours won't help you." he watched as Yugi began to cry.

"After all we've been through together, and you won't believe me when I tell you that we're all in danger." Yugi stared straight into Yami's eyes. "I'm not making this up. If we stay here, we _will _die."

Yami felt himself weaken from Yugi's stare and sighed. "Okay, we'll go and speak to Pegasus about this and see what he says."

Together they walked to the room which Pegasus had claimed as his office in the school building and saw Kaiba sat outside its door reading through some papers that he had made notes about possible solutions to the situation that they were in. "What do you two want?" he asked not looking up from his papers.

"We want to see Pegasus." Yami simply said.

"Why?" Kaiba lazily asked, still not looking at them as he turned his pages.

"Please Kaiba." Yugi spoke quietly. "It's important, and I don't wish to explain it more times than what I have too."

Kaiba raised his head and saw that Yugi was shaking with fear as he stood beside Yami, and wondered just what it could be that had him so scared.

The door to Pegasus' office opened and Duke stepped out, closing the door behind him. "What brings you two here?" he asked in surprise. "If you've come to see Pegasus, then you're out of luck. He's busy for the rest of the evening."

"I'm handling this." Kaiba growled. "Why don't you go and start your patrol duty like the good little lapdog that you are." he waited for Duke's reaction.

Instead of the scornful stare that he usually gave after comments like this, Duke just laughed to himself and an amused smile crept on to his face. "Don't forget that you're his lapdog too." he said before he turned and walked away.

Kaiba glared after him as he left, knowing that Duke had only acted like that since there were others around in an attempt to anger him with the remark. And it had. He hated having to do as Pegasus ordered, but if it meant that he could keep Mokuba safe from the free roaming monsters then he was willing to put up with it. He stood up and reached for the door handle. "Follow me." he ordered as he opened the door to Pegasus' office and entered.

Pegasus was seated behind a large desk with papers sprawled out all over it, and maps marked with the worst hit areas of the city and other information pinned on to the walls around the room. "Kaiba-boy!" he smiled. "This is a surprise to see you again today. Whatever do you want, to interrupt my busy work?"

"It's not what I want." Kaiba said un-amused as always in Pegasus' presence. He stepped to one side revealing Yami and Yugi who were hidden from view behind his huge flowing white coat. "It's what they want. They have requested to see you about important matters."

"Ah, the Pharaoh and dear sweet Yugi-boy!" Pegasus spread his arms wide to the side as a welcoming gesture upon seeing the two. He looked back to Kaiba. "Leave." He ordered.

Kaiba left the office and returned to reading his notes. He was still curious as to what it was that Yugi had wanted to tell Pegasus that was so important, but knew that he would find out sooner or later.

"So just what is it that you have to tell me?" Pegasus asked intrigued as he rest back comfortably in to his chair.

Yugi received a nod from Yami that indicated to him to tell Pegasus everything. "We're in danger and have to leave now!" he blurted out. "I just have a feeling that we must do this, if we don't then we'll all die!"

"We?" laughed Pegasus. "Are you referring to yourselves with that term?"

"No." Yugi shook his head. "I mean everybody here in this building, and anybody else who may still be in the city."

There was silence for a moment. "I see." said Pegasus as he turned around in his chair so that his back was now facing them. He had no interest in what they had to say. "And just where should we all go to?"

"I don't know." Yugi confessed. "Anywhere just as long as it's away from here."

"And just how do you expect to move such a large number of people across a distance that hasn't yet been decided, and which would also make them more vulnerable to attacks from more monsters along the way." he asked yawning.

"I don't know." Yugi said again. "But ………." he stopped as he felt Yami's hand rest on his shoulder.

Seeing his friend look to him for help, Yami simply shook his head. It had been cruel of him to let Yugi humiliate himself like this, but he hoped that now he understood just how ridiculous he sounded.

"Fine!" Yugi snapped with tears built up in his eyes. "I tried to warn you both, but neither of you will listen. When everybody dies from the approaching danger, at least I'll know that I did everything that I could to help them!" He stared at Yami. "Their deaths will lie with the pair of you." and then he turned and left the room.

"Oh what nonsense!" Pegasus laughed as he turned back round to see only Yami standing there as he thought about the way that his friend was behaving. "And you actually believe him about this?"

"At first I didn't." Yami spoke to the space in front of him where Yugi had stood just a few moments ago. He raised his head and stared at Pegasus. "But now I do as he seems so sure and concerned about this."

"We both know that Yugi-boy hasn't been in the right state of mind for some time now." Pegasus leaned forward across the desk as he spoke. "Do you honestly trust his judgement over mine about what's best for these people?"

"Do I really need to answer that?" Yami said as he began to head towards the door that was still open from Yugi's exit. He left the room and angrily slammed the door behind him as he watched Yugi who was almost at the end of the corridor.

Kaiba still sat staring down towards his notes. "You should _never_ slam a door."

"Pardon?" Yami asked confused as he stared at Kaiba.

"You never know when you might want to go back." Kaiba put down his papers and turned to Yami with a smile on his face. "But I guess that's one piece of advice that neither of us follows."

Yami flashed a quick smile back to Kaiba before he ran after Yugi. "Wait!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It was now nightfall and Yami and Yugi stood together outside in the school yard. They had talked some more about the vision that Yugi had witnessed earlier and decided that if Pegasus wasn't prepared to listen to them then they would just take matters into their own hands and leave with as many people as possible in search of another place to shelter from the monsters. A few people had already gathered with them in the darkness as they waited for more to come.

In the little bit of light that the moon reflected down Yami saw another figure approach them. "Who's there?" he asked.

"It's me." replied a polite voice, and Yami knew instantly that it was Bakura. "Joey told me that you were leaving tonight and, if it's true, I'll like to come along."

"Of course." Yugi told him. "I'd have told you myself but I couldn't find you."

"You know me, always busy helping others." Bakura laughed quietly. "Preparing meals, caring for the sick and injured, building shelters, mending clothing, entertaining the younger children, you name it I've done it."

"Then it's a good job you're tagging along." Joey commented as he joined the group. "That way at least one of us knows what they're doing. Oww!"

Tea had jabbed Joey in the ribs. "Don't expect to just lie around all day like you do here." she told him. "We all have to work together to make this happen."

"Too true." Yami agreed. "Is Tristan with you?"

"He'll be along in a mo." Joey replied rubbing his side where Tea had poked him.

A couple of others joined them before Tristan finally showed a little while later. "I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news but, I've just had a couple of Pegasus' goons follow me about." he told them as he joined the group still checking back over his shoulder. "I think I lost them though."

"The sooner we leave the better." Yami said as he began to lead the others from around the back of the school to the front where the gates where, but he stopped as he noticed that Yugi hadn't moved from where he was stood. "Come on Yugi, we have to go now. We've informed as many people as possible about this."

Yugi took one last look around before he joined Yami's side and sighed. "I know, but I just wish that we could have told the Kaiba brothers and Duke as well."

"You know that they would only have told Pegasus of our plan and try to stop us." Yami too hated the thought of leaving others behind.

"Quick, stop them!" came a shouted order from behind the group. Pegasus' men who had been following Tristan had been made aware of the planned breakout from the school and where there to stop them all from leaving the grounds.

"Run!" Yami ordered. "To the gates, quickly!"

As swiftly as they could everybody ran as fast as their legs would carry them. The group was lead by Joey and Bakura who were running the fastest, followed by Yami, Yugi Tristan and Tea. The rest of the people were then blocked by Pegasus' group of those chosen to keep everybody else in line.

When they were almost at the school gates, Joey suddenly stopped causing the rest of the gang to bump into him as they failed to stop sooner. The reason became clear as to why Joey had stopped when they saw Duke stood in front of the padlocked gates which had brought their chance to escape to a halt.

"Pegasus will not be pleased that you all went against him." Duke said as he glared at them.

"I know that you're only doing as you've been told, but please don't get in our way." Yugi said as he made his way to the front of his friends. "There is something bad about to happen and …….." he was cut of by Duke.

"_You can't explain how you know, but it's dangerous and will kill us all_." Duke said mockingly. "Save it Yugi, because Pegasus explained it all to me already."

"And yet you're still being such a jerk." Tristan pointed out as he stood next to Joey. "If you continue to stand in our way, then that leaves only one thing for us to do." He cracked his knuckles.

"I'm with ya on that." Joey said as he did the same to his knuckles and the two of them charged at Duke with their fists ready for a fight.

Duke simply remained where he was as the two strongest members of the gang ran at him hoping to take him down so that they could continue on their way. But he wasn't prepared to let them do that and produced an electric shocker from under his waistcoat and zapped both of them until they fell to the floor in pain where they stayed paralyzed momentarily.

The rest of the gang made their way forward to help aid their two friends who were still unable to move, but only Yami continued forward to face Duke. "I know that you don't really want to stand in our way or seriously hurt us, so _please_ stand aside."

Duke tucked the electric shocker back to where it had come from inside the concealed pocket of his waistcoat. He knew that Yami wasn't the type to throw punches, and would rather talk his way around things, so he didn't have anything to fear from him. "Don't push me to see just how far I would go to carry out an order from Pegasus." He warned threateningly. "I'll kill you if that's what it takes to stop you. _That'_s how determined I am to not let you leave."

Yami looked round to see Joey and Tristan being held up by the other three, swaying as they both struggled to stay standing. Yugi still looked quite frightened from the thought that they wouldn't be able to leave after all He turned back to Duke and approached even closer to him. "For the last time I ask you to stand aside." His eyes narrowed and his voice became threatening. "I am prepared to fight you for our freedom if you don't."

"I didn't want it to come to this." said Duke as he took the first swing which sent Yami stumbling backwards, but was unprepared for the returning attack.

"Stop it!" shouted Yugi as he watched the fight break out. "You're supposed to be friends!" But still they continued to fight, with Yami taking a beating from Duke who was too strong for him.

Joey and Tristan both pushed Tea and Bakura away from them as they tried to help their friend with his fight. But they were still too weak from the electric shock and fell in a heap on the ground.

Duke now had hold of Yami by the throat and was about to hit him when he felt himself hit hard in the face. He released his grip and fell sideways to the floor from the force that had struck him. His mouth filled with blood, as his teeth had cut the inside of his cheek from the impact, which he spat out before he looked up to see just who had hit him. "Kaiba!" he said in surprise.

Kaiba stood between Duke and Yami, who was now on his knees. His white coat rebounded the light from the moon and as always it flowed out behind him. "You're meant to keep the peace, not fight amongst your friends."

"Pegasus told me to do whatever it takes to stop them." Duke explained from where he still lay on the ground and he slowly pushed himself up. "But now that you're here, we can stop them together."

"First of all you should already know that I don't do teamwork." Kaiba glared at Duke as he spoke. "And secondly, I couldn't give a damn about what Pegasus says."

"So you're not going to stop us?" Yugi asked as he helped Yami on to his feet.

"I over heard your conversation earlier." Kaiba replied but not answering Yugi's question. "And although I don't believe a word of it, with my past experiences of things that I can't explain, I always seem to have been told by you in advance of them happening. Therefore I would rather listen to you than that joke of a leader when it comes to the safety of my brother. So no, I'm not going to stop you from leaving this place."

"Just wait until Pegasus finds out about this! He won't take kindly to you betraying him." Duke snarled. "It seems like you too are abusing the power of authority that he gave you."

"That's a good one." laughed Kaiba. "But to betray him I would have had to have been loyal to him to start off with. And as for the authority part, well that no longer exists." he laughed to himself as he thought back to a little while earlier. "You should have seen the look on his face when I told him where to shove that lapdog role, it was priceless." He turned away from Duke and approached Yugi and the others.

Duke became angered at Kaiba's attitude and reached inside his waistcoat for the electric shocker. There was no way that he was going to let Pegasus down by letting the others get away, and stopping Kaiba as well would surely please him even more. He charged at Kaiba as he walked away.

"Look out!" Tea cried as she saw what Duke was attempting to do.

Kaiba turned to see blue streaks of electricity spurt from the device in Dukes hand, and then watched as he stopped running at him and doubled over in pain, clutching at his groin from being hit there by a small figure. As Duke fell to his knees he was zapped by his own weapon which was now held by his attacker. "Nobody attacks my brother!" he heard before he fell unconscious.

"Mokuba, I told you to stay over there out of sight!" Kaiba spoke to his brother angrily from moving out of the shadows where he had left him. But he was kind of relieved and even impressed about the fact that Mokuba had stopped Duke from carrying out his attack. He lightened his tone; "And what did I tell you about attacking someone when they're already down?"

Mokuba dropped the weapon and it broke as it hit the ground. He turned to face Kaiba and repeated what his brother had once told him. "Never kick anybody once they're down." he sighed. "Except if it's a rival company or Joey Wheeler."

"Hey!" Joey said as he pushed Bakura away and held his fist up towards Kaiba.

"Well now that you're standing, I suggest that you all get moving before the rest of Pegasus' goons catch up to you." He said as he removed a bunch of keys from Duke's pocket and unlocked the padlock on the gate.

"What about Duke?" Yugi asked Yami.

"It's clear that he's still too loyal towards Pegasus so taking him with us is out of the question." Yami said looking down to where Duke lay. "I think he would be happier here anyway."

"Perhaps you're right." Yugi sadly nodded and exited the school grounds which Kaiba relocked the gates behind him and threw the keys into the remains of a nearby building.

"There's not very many of you to go travelling like this." Mokuba said as he walked along side Yugi. "So would you mind if Seto and I tagged along?"

"Aww, are you two scared to be on your own in the big bad world!" Joey said in a childish voice.

Kaiba wasn't in the mood for retaliating but Mokuba made a rude gesture towards Joey which made Tristan and Bakura laugh out loud.

Yami slowed his pace and dropped back to where Kaiba was walking right at the back of the group. "Thank you for what you did back there. And I'm glad that you're coming with us."

"I can't stand to see people pick on others weaker than themselves." Kaiba told him. "And as far as travelling with you goes, Mokuba's safety is my only concern; don't interoperate that into anything else for my reason for being here. And don't even think about ordering me around." He picked up his pace and walked along side his brother.

"Monster alert!" Tristan told them all from where he walked at the front of the group.

They all entered the crumbled down entrance of a building until an Uraby passed by them. They kept very still and quite during the whole time that they were hiding until they felt that it was far enough away from them and safe to come out again.

"I think it just killed someone or something." Tea whined. "I saw blood on it's lips."

"Lucky for us it had." Bakura commented. "If it hadn't then it might of searched for us in that doorway."

"So where do you plan to go now?" Kaiba asked with his arms folded as he leaned against the crumbled down wall and looked at Yugi.

"I don't know." Yugi confessed. "Anywhere, just as long as it's out of the city." He began to feel uncomfortable as everyone had their eyes on him. Why didn't he think it through more clearly before he had made them leave?

"This is what happens when you don't plan ahead." Kaiba told them. "At this rate you all won't last very long."

"But we do have a plan." Yami spoke up and winked at Yugi. "We decided that crossing the river and searching in that direction would be the best thing to do on our way to finding a new place to settle." he said the first thing that came into his head to make them think that somebody was in charge. Otherwise they might start to lose hope and panic about what the future may hold if they really knew that he didn't have a clue what to do next.

"But the river's all the way across the city!" Mokuba exclaimed.

"It will take us ages to get there." Joey joined in with the complaining.

"Then you had better stop complaining and get moving." Kaiba glanced at Yami before starting to make his way towards the direction of the river. He knew that the Pharaoh didn't have a clue about where he was leading his friends.

One by one the others followed after Kaiba. Yugi and Yami were the last ones to move and walked side by side. "Thank you for helping me out and taking charge of everyone since we didn't think of a plan before we left."

"I think it's Kaiba who you should be thanking." Yami spoke quietly. "Even though he says that he's only here for Mokuba's sake I think that he's actually looking out for all of us."

"The pair of you always make a good team when you work together." Yugi smiled back at his friend.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The sun had risen to start the new day. After travelling all night through the city and avoiding a couple of more monsters along the way, the gang finally found themselves at the river. They stood on the embankment and looked both up and down the river to find that all of the bridges crossing it had been destroyed.

"How the heck are we supposed to cross now?" Joey asked as he slumped down to the ground. Like the others he was tired and took the chance to rest while he could.

Yami stared across the water to the other side, and felt like he had just drawn his friends to a dead end and tired them out in the process. He noticed Yugi appear by his side. "I guess we had better turn around and go back the way we came to exit the city from the other side." he told him quietly.

"No." Yugi said and shook his head. "It would take too long and we don't have the time or energy to spare. I've had time to think about this whole thing and decided that we are going in the right direction after all."

"How can you be so sure?" Yami asked as he stared at Yugi who remained silent. "You just know, don't you?"

Yugi nodded. "And we have to move now before ……" He stopped mid sentence and shivered. "We just have to carry on."

"Maybe we should rest and figure out how to cross the river later." Tea suggested.

"Don't be stupid." Kaiba told her. "If we dawdle any longer we won't have a chance of leaving this place."

"What makes you say that?" Yami asked curiously.

"Do you really think that Pegasus would let us get away with defying him? He's bound to have sent a patrol after us already." Kaiba explained. "I know I would if I were him. Plus there's the fact that we're now out in the open and an easy target for any nearby monsters to attack."

"Pardon me, but I think I have an idea." Bakura interrupted the conversation. All eyes fell upon him as he explained his plan. "If we could find enough wooden debris, we could make a raft and sail across the river."

"Building a raft will take too long." Kaiba snapped.

"Not if we all work together." Yami told him. "And at the moment it's the best plan that we have, unless you can think of anything better." But he didn't receive an answer from Kaiba.

"When you say _debris_, does it include that bench over there?" Tristan asked as he sat beside Joey on the ground and pointed to a little way up the side of the river.

"Well that bench is still fixed up, so I don't really see how we could use it." Bakura replied.

"Leave it to us." Tristan grabbed Joey who moaned as he was pulled back up on to his feet. Together they approached the bench and started to pull it apart.

"How will you fix it together?" Mokuba asked. "We don't have any rope or cable to tie the boards up."

Bakura thought for a moment. "We could use belts instead to do the job." He removed his own and then Yami and Yugi removed all of theirs, Tea did the same.

Mokuba stared up at his big brother, which made Kaiba roll his eyes before he removed the straps from around his arms and legs. He threw them towards Bakura. "There, don't say that I never help out." he turned and began to walk away back up the embankment and out of sight.

"I think that's as much help that you're going to get out of Seto for this." Mokuba sighed as Joey and Tristan returned carrying armfuls of wooden planks that had once been the bench.

Together Bakura, Mokuba and Tea started to build the raft as they fixed the planks tightly together, Joey and Tristan continued to search for more benches to dismantle, and Yami had hold of Yugi who had begun to shake.

Kaiba came back down the embankment at a fast pace. "Forget the raft." he said urgently. "We're going to swim across instead."

"What!" exclaimed Tea. "I'm not getting wet."

Kaiba ignored her, and not wanting to cause panic amongst the others he mouthed the letters; _F, G, D,_ to Yami whose eyes widened in fear of being told about the monster that Kaiba had spotted approaching them.

"We have no time to argue." Yami sternly told his friends. He looked across the wide river and wondered just how long it would take them to swim the distance and if they all would be able to reach the other side as there were clearly exhausted. "We can't wait for the raft to be finished, we have to swim."

"What's that about swimming?" Joey asked dropping more planks to the ground.

"You're going to get into the water and swim the width of the river." Kaiba told him simply.

"Says who!" Joey shouted, not liking the tone of voice that he had been spoken to with.

"I do!" snapped Kaiba as he grew impatient.

"I can't swim." Yugi butted in the argument still shaking.

"That's not my problem." Kaiba told him. "You'll just have to do the best you can."

"That's not good enough!" Yami too became annoyed with Kaiba. "We're all in this together, and will all get out of it together!"

There was silence as the two of them stared at each other before Mokuba spoke. "I can't swim either." he said quietly not looking at anything but the belt he held in his hand.

"What!" Kaiba was surprised to hear his little brother's revelation. He wasn't about to leave him behind and would pull him along through the water as he swam to get him across to the other side if that was what he had to do.

"Don't worry." Bakura said as he lifted the few bits of wood that they had managed to bind together. "It's not very big, but it should be able to take both Yugi and Mokuba's weight. The rest of us can take turns pushing it through the water. Plus it will double as a float if any of us becomes too exhausted."

"What would we do without you?" Yami smiled as they placed the small raft onto the water's surface and helped the two smallest boys climb on board.

"I don't think that this is such a good idea." Joey said as they all stepped into the river.

"No one asked you to think." Kaiba said as the water now came up to his chest.

"Come 'ere an' say that!" Joey shouted back as he waded through the shallow water before finding the point where the river bed dipped sharply and felt the water rise rapidly up to his chest.

"This is no time to argue you two!" Yami told them as he held onto the raft. Kaiba didn't say a word but he heard Joey mumble about how he;_ hadn't started it. _"Please Joey, don't make a fuss, and just swim to the other side, there's a Mythic Dragon heading this way."

Joey's face became full of fear at hearing this, as did the others'. "Why didn't you just say that in the first place!" he said as he swam quickly to join his friend to help push the raft.

"What's a Mythic Dragon?" Tea asked nervously as she bobbed up and down as she swam.

"Just keep facing forward and focus on reaching the embankment at the other side." Yami told her and was beginning to have doubts about whether or not crossing the river was the right thing to do after all. He looked up at Yugi and Mokuba as they sat on the raft and helped to paddle with their hands. Yugi still needed his help and he would do whatever it took to make sure that he and his friends made it to safety. This thought made the doubts disappear from his mind.

Pushing the raft had made swimming easier and faster for Yami, Joey and Bakura who were now over half way there. Tristan wasn't too far behind them, closely followed by Kaiba, and then Tea as she paced herself so that she didn't become too exhausted too quickly.

A loud roaring sound could be heard behind them. Yugi looked back in horror and saw the huge form of the Mythic Dragon take flight into the sky and begin to head towards them. "We're not going to make it!" he cried as he began to shake again.

"We will." Yami told him before looking back behind himself to see the others still quite far behind them, and that Tea had started to panic and was now having difficulty staying above water as she flailed about.

"Keep going, I'll get her!" Tristan shouted as he turned back to go and help Tea.

Yami continued to swim with the raft as did Bakura, but Joey let go to also go back and help his friends. "No, stay here." Yami told him, but it was too late as Joey had sped away.

As she continued to panic, Tea found it harder to keep her head above the water and had swallowed a lot of it which was also making it difficult for her to breath. She went under again but this time she was pulled back to the surface by a helping hand. Coughing, spluttering and gasping for air she saw that it was Kaiba who had hold of her.

"Calm down or you're going to drag me under too." he told her and looked to see just how far off the dragon was. The sight which met him wasn't good as it was now swooping down towards them after being alerted by Tea's flailing. "Hold your breath." he order and then dived down taking her with him to avoid the dragon's outstretched claws.

Under the surface of the river they both felt the current of the water as the claws skimmed through above them. Unable to hold their breath for much longer, they had no choice but to return to the surface and back into the dragon's view.

"We're going to dive under again, so make sure that you take the biggest breath that you can." Kaiba explained calmly as he too struggled to breath. He saw the dragon come back round for another attempt to get them. "Now!" he ordered, and they both took a deep breath and disappeared under the surface again.

This time however, the current that they felt from the dragon's attack didn't come from above them but from in front of them instead. After it's previous failed attempt of grabbing them with it's claws, the dragon had tried a different approach of capturing it's prey and shot a beam from one of it's five mouths which ran deep below the water's surface.

As the beam came closer to them, Tea felt herself being pushed away from her rescuer before she saw the light run through between them. She was pushed even further back through the water and headed up for air once more.

Now that she was back on her own she began to panic again but it was short lived as she felt an arm wrap around her upper body as a voice told her. "Don't worry, I've got you." and pulled her through the water towards the river bank where she had been heading.

"Tristan!" Tea exclaimed in surprise. "What about Kaiba?" she looked to see the dragon circle in the sky above the area she had been just a moment ago.

"I'll go back for him too." Tristan told her, although he wasn't sure if there'd still be a Kaiba to go back for. "Let me get you to safety first."

"So Rich-boy's still out there?" Joey asked but knowing the answer as he appeared beside his two friends. He saw the dragon dive down towards the river. "He's gonna own me big-time for this." he said as he swam off in that direction.

Kaiba had taken most of the force from the dragon's beam as he had failed to clear from it's path in time, and bobbed up and down on the river's surface in pain. Looked around for the monster he finally saw it as it dived towards him. He didn't have the strength and energy needed to try and avoid the huge beast, and just stared up at it as he waited for it to take him. He didn't care if his life was about to end as he knew that Mokuba would be okay with Yugi and the others, but hoped that his brother would forgive him for what was about to happen., and for the first time in years, Kaiba felt himself gripped by fear as he closed his eyes and waited for the approaching dragon to tear him to shreds.

But as he waited listening to the five heads of the Mythic Dragon roar as they came closer he heard another sound. A sound which he recognized after hearing it many times before since the monster it belonged to had once been part of his deck. He opened his eyes to see the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon intercept the other dragon's attack. As he stared in awe at the two dragons fighting in the sky, he felt himself slowly slip under the water's surface.

"I told you that I didn't think that this was such a good idea." Kaiba heard Joey tell him after he had been pulled back up to the surface by his coat's huge collar. "But do you ever listen to me, _no_."

"Stop complaining, Wheeler." Kaiba managed to say, and tried once more to swim for himself.

"You Ingrate!" Joey laughed. "I'm saving your life and you're still being a jerk."

"And you're still complaining, you mutt." Kaiba said now swimming on his own beside Joey.

The two of them didn't say another word to each other as they continued to swim side by side until they reached the river bank where Joey reminded Kaiba that he; _owed him one, _as he climbed up the embankment to meet his friends leaving Kaiba standing in the shallow water.

Kaiba turned to see the two dragons still fighting one another. Had the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon appeared to save him or was it just coincidence? He wasn't sure but either way he was grateful that it had appeared.

"Seto are you okay?" Mokuba asked as he carefully made his way down to his brother are hugged him.

"I'm okay." Kaiba winced as his brother squeezed him tightly. He still felt a little weak from the blast that he had taken but a lot better than what he had back in the river before Joey had reached him.

"I think that its time we moved on." Yami spoke and began to lead the way as Kaiba took one last look at his beautiful dragon before he and Mokuba followed on behind everyone else.


	4. Chapter 4

I know it's a little late for this but that's because I forgot to take my brain out of it's jar when I posted the first chapter.

**Disclaimer**  
**I do not own any rights to Yugioh or Watership Down.  
My fanfic is based on the Yugioh dub and Watership Down film.  
I will be using the characters from Yugioh to tell the Watership Down story as well as adding my own little personal touches along the way.**

Thank you to those of you who have been reading and reviewing. I'm glad that you are enjoying what I have written and hope that I will continue to please you with the rest of the fanfic.

I have not rewritten the hrududu scene as I was unable to think of a way of doing so.

Anyway, on with the story ...

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**Chapter 4**

The gang had continued their way through the outskirts of the city as they all followed slowly after Yami who was leading them. The heat from the sun had dried out their soaked clothing, which had been weighing many of them down who were exhausted, as they struggled to keep going.

Kaiba made his way to the front of the group to confront Yami. "They need to rest." he told Yami, indicating the others as he was too proud to admit that he too was exhausted.

"I'm aware of that." Yami answered honestly. He turned to see his friends as they slowly joined up in a group and came to a stand still behind him. "There's a park not far from here where we'll be able to rest under the shade of the trees that will keep us cool during the midday sun, and hide us from view of any nearby monsters."

"Spoken like a true leader." Joey said as he forced himself to move again.

"Well he was a Pharaoh after all." Yugi smiled at his friend who was now acting like the leader that they needed to guide them.

"Don't ever expect to hear me call you _leader._" Kaiba smirked as they all made their way into the park where they stopped under the shade to get some much needed rest.

After a while Yugi awoke from his sleep as he felt someone trip over his outstretched legs. "Tea?" He looked to see his friend slowly creeping away from where they were resting. "Where are you going?"

"Sorry Yugi, I didn't mean to wake you." Tea whispered, she began to blush as she told him. "I just got to go to the bathroom."

"Okay." Yugi yawned as he snuggled back up to go to sleep. He found it hard to get comfortable again and shivered before he turned over and tried to make himself comfortable on his other side. He saw Tea walking further away from them as he struggled to keep his heavy eyes open, and as he was about to fall back to sleep he heard Tea scream which caused him to open his eyes fully, now wide awake.

Horrified, Yugi watched as he saw Tea carried off by a Punished Eagle who had spotted her as she walked out in the open. One by one the others appeared beside him as they too had been awoken by Tea's scream.

"What's wrong?" Yami asked as Yugi began to sob.

"Tea's gone!" Yugi cried through the tears that fell from his huge watering eyes. He pointed to the giant bird in the sky which was now so far away from them that it was merely just a dot amongst the clouds.

Yami found it hard to swallow as he was shocked to find that Tea could have been so easily taken from them. He didn't want to lose anymore of his friends, and holding back his heartache he told the others; "We better keep moving." before he moved away from them as a tear rolled down his check.

"Hey, we can't go just yet!" Tristan shouted after Yami.

"We've just lost a friend here!" Joey shouted sounding quite angry and hurt. "I thought you would have shown some compassion."

Yami didn't stop or turn around but just kept on walking knowing that if they stayed to moan over Tea that they too could still be in danger. Kaiba also sensed this and ordered the others to follow. "You heard him, now move." he said before he and Mokuba followed on after Yami.

Not wanting to be left behind, Bakura also followed after the two Kaiba brothers, and after looking back to his two friends who seemed to refuse to want to leave Tristan also followed, leaving Yugi and Joey alone.

"It's my fault that this happened." Yugi told Joey as he wiped away tears from his face. "If I hadn't made you all leave the safety of the school then Tea would still be here."

Joey looked down towards his tearful friend and fought back his own sadness. "It's not your fault Yuuge." he told him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, otherwise we're going to get left behind."

Together the two of them caught up to the others in no time at all. Nobody said anything to each other as they walked in silence remembering the friend that they had just lost.

They finally left the outskirts of Domino and now trekked across open land, keeping as close as possible to any nearby shrubbery to conceal themselves from the view of passing by duel monsters.

It was now getting dark and they all were becoming tired and hungry. In his backpack Mokuba had brought along a fairly large sized collection of different sweets which he happily shared with anyone who wanted some. It was keeping the hunger at bay for the moment but it was agreed that finding a more substantial food source was the first thing to be done the next day.

They had stumbled upon an old deserted looking graveyard and had decided that the rundown church would provide shelter for them during the night while they slept. The inside of the church was almost bare as most of the benches had been ripped from the floors where they had been bolted down and now lay piled up at one side.

"But it's a graveyard!" Joey protested. "You know the place where _dead _people are laid to rest."

"Take note on that last part." Yami said as he made himself comfortable against one of the stone walls. "They are dead and buried, so nothing is going to hurt you." he knew how much his friend hated zombies, ghosts and ghouls of any sort.

"But it's still creepy." Joey complained as he nervously watched Yugi and Bakura also make themselves comfortable on the floor. He heard a _Whoo!_ sound come from behind him and turned to see Tristan break out in laughter. "That's not funny!"

Kaiba chuckled to himself as he watched Joey hit Tristan. He was sat on the floor leaning against the remains of an altar as Mokuba snuggled up beside him. "Are you okay?" he asked his younger brother.

"Yeah." Mokuba replied as he shivered from the breeze that blew through the church. "I just thought that all of the hard times were behind us now."

"They will be again soon." Kaiba quietly told his brother as he removed his coat and wrapped it tightly around Mokuba. He knew that it would be a long while before things got back to the way that they were before the monsters had appeared but didn't want to discourage his brother's hopes.

"I know." Mokuba yawned as he loosened his brother's coat from around himself so that he could use it to cover them both. "We can get through anything as long as we're together."

It wasn't long before they had all fallen asleep but Yugi found himself woken up again. This time he opened his eyes to see a pair of huge green Kuriboh eyes staring back at him. The small fuzzy creature chirped at him and continued to make more cute sounding noises, as Yugi sat himself up, before jumping onto his lap.

"Quiet down or you'll wake the others." Yugi told the Kuriboh as he ruffled its fur. He looked around to see Yami not far from him as he slept sat upright leaning against the wall. Bakura was also close to him as he lay on the ground peacefully. Joey and Tristan were laid side by side, both with their mouths open and snoring quitely.

Yugi then looked further into the church towards where the two Kaiba brothers were sleeping as they both rested against each other and wrapped in Kaiba's white coat. Something caught his eye as it moved swiftly, concealed in the shadows, and took a moment for his brain to register just what it was that he had seen. "Kaiba! Mokuba! Wake up!" he shouted loudly waking everyone.

Kaiba awoke suddenly from hearing Yugi's cry and as he saw a long clawed leg reach out for him and Mokuba, he pulled his still sleepy little brother to one side, leaving behind his coat which was now clasped in the claws of a Man-Eater Bug.

"Everybody out now!" Yami ordered on seeing the monster as it reared and attempted to lunge the brothers again.

"We have to do something." Yugi said to Yami as he held the Kuriboh tightly and watched as Kaiba had managed to use a nearby candlestick to try and force back the Man-Eater Bug as it had its jaws clamped around the candlestick.

"I know but what?" Yami said as he didn't have any idea how to fend off the giant bug.

The Kuriboh in Yugi's arms began to struggle and managed to jump down to the ground. It made a series of small snarls and growls as it approached the struggle between the human and the duel monster.

"Go now!" Kaiba shouted at Mokuba to leave while he had the chance, before the bug noticed than the younger boy was an easier target than the one he was currently duelling against.

"No Seto, I won't leave you!" Mokuba refused as he was pushed aside by a small gang of Kuriboh who had also appeared from the shadows as they surrounded the Man-Eater Bug.

Kaiba saw the appearance of the fuzzy duel monsters as their chance for escaping and grabbed Mokuba as he ran to the others as they too finally began to make their way outside into the pale morning light and as far from the church and graveyard as they could go before stopping to catch their breath as they all gathered at the start of a small forest area.

"That was a lucky escape." Bakura panted and dropped down to the ground, closely followed by some of the others.

"At least you didn't have that thing breathing in your face!" Mokuba exclaimed back to the white haired boy before he turned to his brother and laughed. "I bet that you never thought you'd be glad to see those fur balls?"

Kaiba didn't find his brother's comment funny. "I told you to go Mokuba." he stared at him sternly to make clear just how annoyed he was that his brother hadn't done what he had asked him to.

"I wasn't going to abandon you." Mokuba told his big brother. "And, stop treating me like I'm a kid."

"You _are_ a kid." Kaiba said still annoyed.

"Am not." Mokuba stuck out his tongue.

"Then stopacting like one!" Kaiba roared back.

Mokuba looked shocked at hearing the anger in his brother's voice, anger that was aimed at him. He managed to keep himself from showing any signs of being upset by the outburst. "Fine then, I will." He turned and moved away as far as he could from Kaiba.

"I don't want to interrupt your brotherly conflict, but I think its time that we started to move again." Yami said awkwardly as he watched the pair pretend to ignore each other.

"All right, chow time!" Joey said happily as he remembered that one of the first things that they were going to do today was find something to eat.

They began to start their search for food as Bakura, with a little bit of help from Tristan, began to explain just what kind of plants and berries were and weren't edible. Mokuba joined them at the front of the group whilst Kaiba remained at the back.

"I've never seen them like this before." Yugi whispered to Yami about the way that the two Kaiba brothers were behaving.

"Nor have I." Yami replied. "I think it has something to do with the Man-Eater Bug and Mokuba not fully appreciating the sacrifice that his brother almost made for him." He thought about just how much Kaiba was prepared to do for not only Mokuba, but also for the rest of them like he had done the previous day for Tea. He hoped that Kaiba didn't see Tea's rescue as a wasted effort which might deter him from being part of the group.

"Hey Yami?" Yugi asked breaking his friend's trail of though as it was about to wander back to losing Tea. "Do you think that maybe our monsters are looking over us?"

"What makes you ask that?" Yami said rather surprised.

"Well it's just that back at the river Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon appeared, and then at the church Kuriboh also appeared." Yugi explained. "I just think that maybe there's more to it than just coincidence."

"Let's hope so." Yami smiled back, but in reality he wasn't so sure that he agreed with Yugi.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry about the delay in getting this chapter up. (I've been having computer issues but now everything is sorted)**

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**Chapter 5**

It was late afternoon and after searching all day for food the gang hadn't been rewarded with more than a few berries that Bakura was certain they would be safe to eat. Joey had volunteered to be the taste tester for the things that they were unsure about but had been stopped by other members of the group who decided that the possible harm it could do to him, if they turned out to be poisonous, was too great. It had also become cloudy and started to drizzle slightly as they all rest under the thick canopy of a small clustering of trees. Tired and hungry they talked quietly amongst themselves with some of them beginning to doubt whether or not it had been such a good idea to leave the city.

"I wonder what they're doing back there." Mokuba said as he sat next to Joey and Tristan. He had kept as far away from his brother as was possible throughout the day with neither one of them speaking or making eye contact with each other.

Bakura stood a short distance away from the three who sat on the ground. He gazed out across the land which they had crossed and sighed. "At lest they'll all be warm and dry."

"And fed." Added Joey who clutched at his rumbling stomach. "We can't go on like this."

Tristan turned around and shouted to Yami who stood with Yugi next to the trunk of a large tree. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"It won't be much longer." Yami assured him even though he didn't have an answer for his friend.

"How much longer?" Tristan asked sceptically.

"Maybe we never should of left." Joey said what he was thinking.

"Suppose Yugi did get it all wrong." Bakura also said what was on his mind.

"Maybe we should go back and find out." Mokuba joined the conversation.

"Go back!" Yami exclaimed in disbelief at what he was hearing. "After everything we've been through?" He quickly glanced at Yugi who seemed to cower away with each comment that was said.

"And have to face the consequences for what happened to Duke, Pegasus' favourite lapdog!" Kaiba butted in after overhearing the conversation as voices began to rise. He glared at his little brother "Talk sense for crying out loud!"

"We must go on until we reach a place that isn't roamed by monsters." Yugi said as he began to shiver. "Those who go back there will not be safe."

Yami began to make his way to Yugi who was now out in the open getting wet in the rain as he turned around terrified and almost panicking, but he found his way blocked by Tristan who confronted him. "I don't believe you know where you're going!"

Both Yami and Tristan were surprised to see Kaiba as he placed himself between the two of them and spoke rather threateningly to Tristan. "Now listen here you _chimp_, you…"

"Hey guys!" Bakura shouted interrupting the argument that was about to break out. He had spotted a stranger approaching them.

"It looks like you've come along way to be here." said the stranger who had long pink hair that trailed down his back.

"Do you live around here?" Yami asked noticing that the stranger seemed well groomed and in better health than others who they had seen since the day that the monsters were freed. He watched as the stranger nodded and then continued; "We're travelling and need to rest for a while."

"Of course." the stranger laughed. "We thought that you would, but I don't think that there are enough of you to be comfortable." He seemed to struggle to find the right words for putting his thoughts across.

"There are enough of us to protect ourselves!" Kaiba shot back to the remark as he approached the stranger. "Who are you and what do you want?" He circled round the long pink haired man.

"My name is Siegfried and I don't want anything." he replied. "But since you are travelling and my village isn't far away from here I thought that you may like to rest there. There's plenty of room for you all, and we're about to hold our daily banquet at the village hall if you'd like to join us." He watched as he saw some of their eyes light up at the mention of the banquet and turned to leave. "Now please do excuse me as I hate the rain." he said as he pushed passed Kaiba and returned to his village.

"Well that was kind of him." Bakura told the others what he thought about Siegfried's invitation.

"We shouldn't have anything to do with him or his village." said Yugi as he re-entered the shelter from the rain.

Tristan broke the silence that had fallen upon them as they all thought to themselves. "I was always told not to turn hospitality away." he said as he edged closer to the direction that Siegfried had gone.

"What will he think of us if we don't go?" Mokuba wondered.

"He'll probably think we're afraid." Joey said as he joined Tristan who continued to walk in the village's direction.

"Who's afraid!" said Kaiba as he too was tempted by the offer of a warm, dry place to eat and sleep.

Mokuba got up from where he sat and raced over to join Joey and Tristan as they were almost out of sight.

"He seems friendly enough." Bakura said to Yami and Kaiba before he pondered to himself as he walked off to head for the village.

Kaiba turned to Yami and Yugi. "We can stand around here like fools." he told them waiting for their reaction to the situation, but when neither one of them moved he decided to follow the others after all.

Yami watched until Kaiba was out of sight. He wondered if they was more to Siegfried's kind gesture which somehow Yugi seemed to have sensed. He sighed, _what could possibly be wrong with taking advantage of food and shelter from the stranger?_ He glanced at Yugi and hoped that his friend would follow as he slowly moved away in the same direction as his friends before him.

"I know that they think I'm _mad_, but you know that I'm not, and you still won't listen to me!" he told Yami who didn't return to him.

"Come on Yugi." Yami shouted back. "It will be okay." He increased his speed to try and catch up with the others.

Yugi stay stood under the trees and wrapped his arms around himself. He felt cold and all alone after being abandoned by his friends. Still feeling tired and hungry, he slumped against the tree trunk and slide down to the ground. Rain water dripped from his fringe and ran down his face where it mixed with his own tears as he cried.

After a couple of minutes of being on his own he got up back on to his feet and set off to be reunited with those that he cared for, but who had left him. He still felt that it was a bad idea to go to the village but he wasn't about to abandon his friends, no matter what they thought, or the fact they had just abandoned him.

If something terrible was about to happen then he wanted to be around his friends. He had lost so much already and didn't want to be alone as he know that he wouldn't be able to cope by himself. He wanted to be with his friends, even if that meant that they all died together.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Yugi had managed to catch up with Yami before he entered the village and together they joined up with the others as they waited outside the village hall. Joey was jumping around with his hands across his stomach complaining about why they were delaying the chance to vanquish their hunger and get themselves dry.

"Because if we let you loose on the food then there'd be none left for anybody else." Tristan told his best friend.

Kaiba watched as Yami and Yugi appeared amongst the others. "Now, let's enter." He said to everyone.

"Who made you leader!" Joey exclaimed. His stomach rumbled and he lost the will to argue. "Oh forget it. I gotta eat." He pushed open the village hall doors and entered with the others following on behind.

Inside the village hall was a huge table that spanned all the way down one side of the room. Some of the villagers turned to watch as the strangers entered and one of them began to stuff his face.

Siegfried pushed his way forward and greeted the group. "I'm so glad that you've come." He gestured them towards the table. "Please yourself to as much as you like. There's always more than enough to go around."

"Thank you." Yami took it upon himself to speak for everyone as they all started to help themselves to food before Joey ate it all.

"This is yummy!" Mokuba said with a full mouth of cake. It had been so long since he had last had cake. So long that he had piled up most of his plate with it.

"I must say that this is a rather impressive buffet." Bakura commented. "Most of these foods we no longer have in the city since the monsters broke free."

"Nor would we if it wasn't for their generosity." Siegfried replied with a smile.

"Whose?" Asked Yami suspiciously.

"A lot of the houses are empty." Siegfried carried on talking, ignoring Yami's question. "So feel free to stay and rest as long as you like." And before anyone could say another word, he disappeared back into the small crowd of villagers.

"Where are they all?" Yugi asked Yami about the lack of villagers. He really didn't feel comfortable being there.

"It doesn't seem that Siegfried wants to talk about his village much." Yami said. "Maybe they've suffered with loses like those in the city." He looked down at Yugi after realizing what he said. "I didn't mean to bring that back up."

"It's okay." Yugi sniffed as he thought about what had happened to his mother and grandfather.

"What are you moping about now?" Kaiba sighed as he noticed Yugi with his head hanging down.

"Nothing." Yugi wiped his arm across his face before looking up again. Everybody was now staring at him. He forced a smile on to his face which was only short lived. "Which duel monsters do you think left the food for them?"

"Who cares!" said Joey still stuffing his face. "It's not poisoned!"

"There are good duel monsters out there too." Yami told Yugi who still wasn't convinced that the village, along with its food, was safe. "And didn't you say yourself that you thought that our monsters were looking over us?"

"That's different." Mumbled Yugi. "But this place feels wrong. Like there's a mist that's deceiving us." He became lost in his own thoughts and jumped when Siegfried reappeared beside them.

"Some of us." He referred to the villagers. "are suggesting a gathering and telling stories. I just wondered if you'd be interested in participating?"

"Of course." Yami was being polite to his host.

"As long as Joey doesn't tell his knock-knock jokes." Tristan added.

"What's wrong with my jokes?" Joey raised a fist which still held a half eaten chicken leg.

"Jokes mean nothing to us." Siegfried pointed out. "We have more of a sophisticated taste."

"Great." Joey whispered to Bakura who was closest to him. "A villager full of Kaibas."

Bakura tried hard not to laugh at Joey's way of calling the villagers boring but couldn't help himself. Luckily he managed to make his laugh sound like a cough.

"What's so funny?" asked Tristan as he watched as Bakura seemed to be choking on his food.

"My latest knock-knock joke." Joey told him. "But you don't wanna hear them, so you won't."

"Guys, quiet down now please." Yami turned and told his friends. He headed over to the area where Siegfried was about to start his recital. Everyone but Yugi followed.

Siegfried waited until he had everyone's attention before he started;  
"Oh Mensch! Gieb Acht!  
Was spricht die tiefe Mitternacht?"

"My jokes are way better than this." Joey complained. "I can't even understand a word he's saying!"

"That's because it's German philosophy." Kaiba hissed. "Which is too intellectual for you."

"Stop it you two!" Yami warned the pair of them quietly as Siegfried continued.

As Siegfried was about to finish there was a loud bang as the village hall doors had been opened and slammed. Yami looked around for Yugi but couldn't see him.

"Yugi!" Kaiba muttered under his breath in annoyance.

"Stay here." Yami said to the others. "I'll go get him." He got up and quickly followed out the door that Yugi had slammed behind him.

Outside Yami saw his friend disappear through the streets at a fast pace. He followed and soon they both exited the village and were back where they had first been approached by Siegfried.

"Yugi?" Yami approached his friend who was now resting under the large tree. "What are you doing out here?"

"I had to get away from that place." Yugi looked up at Yami who was standing over him. "It's not safe there. The rest of you don't seem to care anymore so I'll continue this journey on my own."

"You can't do that." Yami was surprised to hear Yugi say such a thing. "You wouldn't last long on your own, you'll die."

Yugi let out a huge sigh and looked down. He couldn't believe that his best friend had no faith in him anymore. "You're closer to death than what I am." he mumbled.

There was a rustle from the thick foliage nearby them and out emerged Kaiba looking angry. "Everything has to revolve around you doesn't it!" He went straight towards Yugi and lowered himself down to the ground so that his face was level with the smaller boy's. "It's always _me, me, me_."

Yugi sat horrified as a pair of angry blue eyes burned right through him. "What? No. Kaiba?" He struggled to find his tongue. "Back at the school when we were leaving you said…"

"I know what I said." Kaiba grabbed Yugi by his collar. "But right now I've had it with you."

"That's enough!" Yami shouted as he watched Yugi wince in Kaiba's grasp.

Slowly Kaiba released his grip and stood up. "This village would be the perfect place to settle, and I'm not going to leave just because you have a _funny feeling in your toes._"

"But…" Yugi cried weakly only to have Kaiba swear back at him before he turned and forced his way back into the bushes to head back to the village.

Yami looked sadly at Yugi and lowered his hand. "Please just let the others rest and give Kaiba time to calm down, then we'll all…" he didn't get chance to finish his sentence as a yelp came from Kaiba's direction.

Together they rushed to where the sound had come from and found Kaiba hanging from a tree. His legs kicked about in the air as he struggled with his hands to keep the rope from tightening around his throat.

"Oh no!" Yami gasped upon seeing Kaiba. He turned to Yugi whose eyes were wide with fear. "Run back to the village and get help, quickly!"

Yugi didn't argue as he watched Yami tried to position himself so that Kaiba could stand on his shoulders before he raced back to the village.

"Everything's going to be okay." Yami told Kaiba who kick him several times. He tried once again to push the swinging feet upwards so that the rope would slacken and allow Kaiba to breath. "Yugi won't be long before bringing the others to help get you down from there." Amongst the choking Yami thought he heard Kaiba say a rather sarcastic: _Great._

It had only been minutes, but to Yami if felt like hours and he was sure that Kaiba felt the same way, before he caught sight of Joey and Tristan. Kaiba's flailing had become less and Yami had managed to push him slightly upwards, but it still wasn't enough. "Get him down quickly, before it's too late!"

Neither of them said a word as they both began to climb the tree.

"Oh, bloody hell!" was Bakura's reaction to seeing the strung body of Seto Kaiba. He raced to help Yami force Kaiba upwards.

"Seto!" Mokuba screamed as he and Yugi were the last two to join the group. "Get him down." He cried upwards to Joey and Tristan as they tried to untie the rope.

"Calm him down." Yami ordered Yugi as Mokuba continued to sob next to him.

Yugi pulled Mokuba back. "Please don't die." The young boy chanted as he fell to the ground.

"Where's Siegfried?" Yami asked struggling to hold Kaiba's weight. "I thought he would have come to help us."

"Well he's not." Yugi said. "He told me that death is a part of life, that we should just forget about Kaiba and that this was the price that they have to pay."

"He said what!" Yami was shocked to hear Siegfried's response.

Snap! The tree branch broke under the pressure of three body weights as Joey and Tristan, unable to untie the rope, swung from it instead. They both landed on each other whilst Bakura and Yami struggled to lay Kaiba on the ground.

Mokuba scurried forward to his brother's body that lay motionless in the dirt. "Seto!" he cried heavily upon seeing his brother's face. He shook his brother. "Don't leave me! Not like this."

Kaiba didn't move. His eyes and mouth were both closed and he looked as though he was sleeping, except that his mouth was blue. The rope around his neck had bruised and worn the skin, despite his efforts. Both of his hands were tangled with the rope and the leather strap of his locket.

Joey and Tristan joined Yami and Bakura as they looked down at the two brothers. Mokuba was pleading with his brother to wake up but his words were almost un-audible as they were drown out by his cries.

"He's gone." Bakura was the one who approached Mokuba with the truth. He placed his hand on Mokuba's shoulder a felt the younger boy move away as he wrapped his arms around his brother and refused to let go.

"You all paid for it!" Yugi screamed at his friends. "The food, the village, nobody bothered to question the villagers about were the rest of them where or what dangers they are around here." He paused for a moment to catch his breath. "The food is left by duel monsters that are doing nothing more than luring their prey to their traps. That's the price that they pay for living so well. Siegfried confessed it to me."

"They left my brother to die." Mokuba spoke weakly as he got to his feet. He wiped the tears from his eyes and anger entered his voice. "They'll pay for this." He stormed passed Bakura and the other three but was stopped by Yugi who blocked his path. "Get out of my way!" he threatened the older boy.

"Returning to the village won't do any good." Yugi saw and felt the anger in Mokuba's eyes. He knew what pain and heartache the younger boy was experiencing since he had lost his family back in the city, although they were under different circumstances a loss was a loss, neither one was less painful than the other. "Getting revenge is going to bring your brother back. He's gone and you have to move on with your life."

Mokuba stared at Yugi with raging eyes which began to soften as his lip trembled.

"I'll kill them myself." Came a weak groan from the ground where Kaiba lay.

"Kaiba!" Yami exclaimed in surprise. "You're alive!""

"We thought ya were dead." Joey laughed.

"Sorry to disappoint." Kaiba replied as he removed the rope from around his neck and sat up.

Unable to say anything, Mokuba raced back to his brother and wrapped his arms tightly around him and cried. Kaiba felt himself knocked backwards by his brother's hug but managed to remain upright.

For a moment there was an eerie silence as the others felt awkwardly out of place as the Kaiba brothers held each other .Slowly Mokuba pulled away. "I though I'd lost you."

"Me too." Kaiba attempted a smile which made Mokuba cry more as he too tried to smile back. "You didn't think that I'd leave you whilst we were on non-talking terms did you?" Another smile which this time caused Mokuba to throw his arms back around Kaiba.

Kaiba waited until his brother had finished crying on his shoulder before he turned to Yugi and asked. "What do we do now?"

"We go away from here." Yugi simply replied. "Once you have rested."

"I don't need to rest." Kaiba rose to his feet. "Lead the way."

Having gained Kaiba's respect, Yugi lead them away from the village and it's surrounding land, leaving behind them the villagers who were doomed to remain in their damned village until it was time for each of them to meet their own end.


End file.
